Allegations of rape at NGO facility emerge at Life Esidimeni hearings

The arbitration hearings are taking place in Parktown after the death of 140 mentally ill patients in government care who were transferred to NGOs.

One such organisation was Takalani.

The patients had been moved to various unlicensed NGOs across the province after the health department cancelled a contract with Life Esidimeni to save money.

At the hearings on Wednesday, the witness (who cannot be identified in order to protect the identity of her sister) testified that the sister became brain-damaged after an incident in which a dog bit her. She ended up at the facility.

The panel was told that the woman was raped in 2003 by another mentally ill patient.

“When we asked the [facility], we were told that the person [allegedly] responsible is a humble guy and my sister must have led him on. No-one was arrested. It was just a one-sided story and there was never a follow-up,” she said.

Her sister initially tested negative for HIV/Aids, but later tested positive.

“She might have been infected when she was discharged for a year, because she was always on the streets and came back late in the evening. People might have taken advantage of her,” the witness said.

A similar experience at Takalani in 2016

Advocate for Section 27, Adila Hassim, also told the panel that a relative of a deceased family member had testified about a similar experience at Takalani in 2016.

Justice Dikgang Moseneke questioned why sexually active men were put in the same ward as women at some of the NGOs. He wondered how many women had fallen victim.

The witness told the panel that some facilities took on more than they could handle because of the financial benefit.

She said they could have reasonably foreseen that the move to ill-equipped NGOs would result in deaths.

“The project was the last thing on their minds… they put themselves first. They would have sacrificed the lives of our loved ones, rather than losing their positions,” she said, while family members in the crowd shouted: “Kunjalo!” (“That’s the truth”).

“If people could just come and tell the truth of the matter, stop pointing fingers. No-one is taking responsibility, they are just pointing fingers and that’s not helping us,” she added.

The panel also heard the testimony of Nwagu Rasidzoge, facility manager at Cullinan Care and Rehab Centre, who gave testimony that lawyers described as untruthful and unreliable.

Solidarity’s Dirk Groenewald accused Rasidzoge of not taking the panel into his confidence.

The panel heard that Rasidzoge had been a manager at the facility since 2012 and knew since then that it did not have an operating licence or certificate.